Yes, I am pretty late to this whole thing. Dragonforce had a lot of hype and mainstream attention a few years back due to their inclusion on the Guitar Hero game. I did buy their debut album which was a decent piece of Euro-style power metal, but I avoided this one for a long time. Not to say I did not hear it, I gave it to one my best friend for either Christmas or his birthday back then as he is a big fan of power metal. But I did not spend much time with the album.Now, I decided to change that and to listen to it without hearing any of the hype, or the requisite backlash going along with said hype.
Well, it is pretty cheesy. My fiancee immediately hated it upon hearing it, which I found pretty fucking funny. The lyrics are pretty cliche stuff for the style and of course everything is really upbeat and almost happy. Rare things indeed for metal.
Dragonforce of course made a name for themselves with their lightning fast riffing style and their blazing solos. Some of the backlash was due to their occasional inability to replicate this speed live in concert. I have no idea if that is true or not, I have never seen the band in concert or seen any videos of it. If it is true, then perhaps the speed of the solos and riffs is indeed a studio creation. Again, I have no idea if this is true or not.
Despite these issues, this is at least a reasonably enjoyable album, provided you like European power metal. I will be honest here, if you do not care for the style, you will not like this album at all. So do not even try. That said, even if you do like the style, there are better bands out there who do not get this kind of recognition. I think the album is passable at best, but then I can find something to enjoy in almost every style of metal.
